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The Godfather (novel)
The Godfather is a crime novel by Mario Puzo that spawned the film series, although the book contains mainly the story from the first film. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the back story of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood. The book introduced Italian criminal terms like consigliere, caporegime, Cosa Nostra, and omertà to an English-speaking audience. It formed the basis for a 1972 film of the same name. Two film sequels, including new contributions by Puzo himself, were made in 1974 and 1990. Titling Much controversy surrounds the title of the book and its underworld implications. Although it is widely reported that Puzo was inspired to use "Godfather" as a designator for a Mafia leader from his experience as a reporter, the term "The Godfather" was first used in connection with the Mafia during Joe Valachi's testimony during the 1963 congressional hearing on organized crime. Main characters The Corleone family patriarch is Vito Corleone, whose surname recalls the town of Corleone, Sicily. Vito has four children: Santino "Sonny" Corleone, Fredo Corleone, Michael Corleone, and Connie Corleone. He also has an informally adopted son, Tom Hagen, who became the Corleones' consigliere. Vito Corleone is also the godfather of a famous singer and movie star Johnny Fontane. The Godfather referred to in the title is generally taken to be Vito. However, the story's central character is actually Michael, and a central theme of the novel is that it is Michael's destiny, despite his determination to the contrary, to replace his father as the family head. Arguably, therefore, Michael is the actual title character. Plot summary The plot deals with a mob war fought between the Corleone family and the other four of the five families of New York. After Don Vito Corleone is shot by men working for drug dealer Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, his two sons, Santino and Michael must run the family business with the help of consigliere Tom Hagen and the two Capos Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio. When Sollozzo and an Irish police captain are murdered by Michael, the conflict escalates into a full scale war which results in Santino's death and Michael, despite his wishes, ascending to the head of the family. He slowly becomes more ruthless than his father, even killing his brother-in-law Carlo Rizzi, who played a part in Santino's murder. Also as the story progresses many of the minor characters, such as the Don's godson Johnny Fontane and his friend Nino Valenti, Sonny's former girlfriend Lucy Mancini, and Michael's bodyguard Al Neri, are expanded on and given their own subplots. Many of these subplots are not included in the movie. The novel culminates when Michael has his two main enemies, the novel's main antagonist, Emilio Barzini and a lesser but still severely important antagonist, Phillip Tattaglia, assassinated. After the total elimination of the Tattaglia family and Barzini family, Michael sells all his business in New York with the intention of making the Corleone family a legitimate business in Las Vegas. The families The five New York City families are: the Corleones, the Barzinis, the Tattaglias, the Straccis, and the Cuneos. There is also the Bocchicchio clan of New York, which does not get involved in any violent dealings or illegal operations, but rather serve as peacekeepers amongst the five families. There are also ten other Mafia families from across the nation: *The Drago family - Tampa *The Capone family - Chicago *The Coniglio family - Milwaukee *The Falcone family - Los Angeles *The Forlenza family - Cleveland *The Greco family - Philadelphia *The Molinari family - San Francisco *The Panza family - Boston *The Tramonti family - New Orleans *The Zaluchi family - Detroit Film adaptation Main article: The Godfather In 1972, a film adaptation of the novel was released, starring Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Mario Puzo assisted with writing the screenplay and with other production tasks. The film grossed approximately $269 million worldwide and won various awards, including three Academy Awards, five Golden Globes and one Grammy and is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. The sequel, The Godfather Part II won six Oscars, and became the first sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture. The film is similar in most places, but leaves out some details, such as extended back stories for some characters. Some of these details were actually filmed, and were included in later versions such as The Godfather Saga. A subplot involving Johnny Fontane in Hollywood was not filmed. The biggest difference was that the novel included a more upbeat ending than the film, in which Kay Corleone found a peaceful acceptance of Michael's decision to take over his father's business. The film, in contrast, ended sharply with Kay's dreadful realization of what Michael had done and his ruthlessness, a theme that would develop in the second and third films, which were largely not based on the original novel. (The Godfather Part II included flashback sequences including scenes about the rise of Vito Corleone that were in the novel.) The third film also introduces "impossible" characters such as Vincent Mancini, inconsistent with the continuity of events from the novel. Sequels In 2004, a sequel was published to Puzo's The Godfather, The Godfather Returns, by Mark Winegardner. A further sequel by Winegardner, The Godfather's Revenge, was released in 2006. The sequel novels continue the story from Puzo's novel. The Godfather Returns picks up the story immediately after the end of Puzo's The Godfather. It covers the years 1955 to 1962, as well as providing significant backstory for Michael Corleone's character prior to the events of the first novel. The events of the film The Godfather Part II all take place within the time frame of this novel, but are only mentioned in the background. The novel contains an appendix that attempts to correlate the events of the novels with the events of the films. The novels and films dovetail in a curious fashion. The Godfather's Revenge covers the years 1963 to 1964. Continuing Puzo's habit, as seen in The Godfather, of featuring characters who are close analogues of real life events and public figures, Winegardner features in his two Godfather novels analogues of Joseph, John, and Robert Kennedy (the Shea family, in the novels) as well as an analogue for alleged organized crime figure Carlos Marcello (Carlo Tramonti). In The Godfather Returns, Winegardner also dramatizes the sweep of organized crime arrests that took place in Apalachin, New York, in 1957. Winegardner uses all of the characters from the Puzo novels, and created a few of his own, most notably Nick Geraci, a Corleone caporegime whose role in the two sequel novels is as important as those of the Puzo-created characters. Winegardner further develops Puzo characters like Fredo Corleone, Tom Hagen, and Johnny Fontane. Real life sources Large parts of the novel are based upon reality, notably the history of the Five Families, the Mafia organization in New York and the surrounding area. The novel also includes many allusions to real life mobsters and their associates; Johnny Fontane is based on Frank Sinatra and Moe Greene on Bugsy Siegel. External links *Fact and Fiction in The Godfather Category:Novels